It can be desirable to monitor (e.g., measure) the energy consumption of a building. For example, an energy meter can be placed at a high level of the utility wiring hierarchy of a building (e.g., at the point at which the utility wiring enters the building), and the energy meter can be used to monitor the total (e.g., overall) energy consumption of the building.
However, such an energy meter located at a high level of the utility wiring hierarchy of a building may not be able to monitor the energy consumption of different types of energy consuming devices within the building. That is, such an energy meter may not be able to distinguish between and/or separately monitor the energy consumption of different types of energy consuming devices within the building.
A Non-Invasive Load Monitor (NILM) device may be placed at the high level of the utility wiring hierarchy of a building to distinguish between and/or separately monitor the energy of different types of energy consuming devices within the building. Different types of energy consuming devices may have different energy consumption signatures associated therewith, and the NILM device can detect changes in the power signal over the utility wiring hierarchy of the building that correspond to the different energy consumption signatures of different types of energy consuming devices within the building. Based on the detected changes in the power signal, the NILM device can determine the type(s) of devices within the building that are consuming energy.
However, NILM devices may not be able to monitor the energy consumption of individual energy consuming devices of a substantially similar type and/or having substantially similar energy consumption signatures within the building. That is, if the building includes multiple energy consuming devices of a substantially similar type and/or having substantially similar energy consumption signatures, the NILM device may not be able to distinguish between them and/or separately monitor their energy consumption.